It is nice to see signs of spring on the run. The first hour or so we could see mist over the Jordan River and the trees were covered with frost. It made for pretty but cold viewing. Later we were able to enjoy the sun coming up and see new growth. Plus, the ground started getting softer so we ran into a few muddy sections.
I started at the parking lot off Winchester and ran North to 5400 South. Salt Lake Running Company was providing water every two miles on the trail and that was nice - didn't have to carry as much this way. I was running with my new Nathan Sport pack and ran into some problems with it. 1) The temperature was cool enough that the mouthpiece froze solid. I solved this by tucking the mouthpiece and tubing under my shirt until it warmed up. 2) I was having problems getting the mouthpiece to open sufficiently to get fluid. Later I figured out that this was probably due to it freezing shut earlier.
Leslie had not run in a week because she had been sick, so we kept our speed to what felt good on her tired lungs. There were lots of runners and cyclists on the trail. In addition to Salt Lake Running Company, Team in Training also had water stops on the trail (they rotated almost every mile) and it seemed like it was the 'place to be' that day.
I stuck with Leslie most of the run. We did go over on the equestrian trail any time we could to get our trail training in. I am looking forward to the warmer temperatures because it will mean more trails opening up soon. The last few miles we ran together I had some excess energy, so would run ahead for a few minutes and then turn around and run back to Leslie. Probably pretty annoying to her, but it kept my juices flowing.
As we ran together we made lots of plans for training this summer and getting ready for the Ogden Valley 50 Miler (OV50) in October. I think Leslie and I need to both get more comfortable running hills if we want to be successful and enjoy 50 mile races. My primary suggestion for this is for us to do the Little Cottonwood Trail once or more a week all summer. The first month focus on running uphill at least one mile before walking at all. The next month make it to two miles and then run the entire trail (a little over 3 miles each way) after that. I did this once before the end of last summer. It was hard and I was slow - but I can tell that my hill running improved a lot last year. A lot of it is mental and that is a hard battle to win.
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